The Valve ARG Network has a couple of indications from Valve that the speculation that they are running a Half-Life 3 alternate reality game is incorrect. This included a very straightforward email from Valve's Gabe Newell saying: "We are not running an arg." Thanks Justin via LambdaGeneration.

Normally I'm pretty good with TLA's when it comes to games or anything tech but I'm at a loss here. I said ARG to my cat and probably my monitor when I read the CoDX just hit the gazillion mark. I think someone mentioned it stands for Alternate Reality Game, which in the context of Half Life, means what?

Regarding Team Fortress, have they finished making that yet? I know it's in my list of owned games but I heard they're still working on hats and balance and stuff. I know that Fallout New Vegas is almost done and coming out with a final version sometime this year.

Dev wrote on Dec 13, 2011, 02:32:People who think that valve IS working on it are operating on personal belief too.

Difference is, there are some key hints (from Valve) out there that the HL3 announcement is coming. You are just taking quotes from an interviews (8+ months old) about Valves business practices and somehow attributing that to them not even working on HL3 at all.

InBlack wrote on Dec 13, 2011, 03:59:to think that Valve isnt working on a sequel to Half Life 2 is just about as retarded as thinking that iD wont do another Doom, or that Apple isnt working on an iPhone5...

Now that beth has bought out id, they might NOT do another doom. Plus, didn't they say that they were doing engines for beth now, and not going to license engines anymore? It's been 7 years (longer than the longest wait between HL games) since the last doom.

Apple will of course do iphone 5, and 6 etc. They have overpriced hardware and people are willing to pay those prices for them, so of course they will. If I had excess money, I'd probably buy a mac myself, they are good even if overpriced (why the frack everyone doesn't use magnetic laptop powerplugs I'll never know). In fact, I'm reasonably sure they could have released the 5 instead of the 4s, but slowing down releases gets them much more money. Intel does this too, they don't pump out a new/faster CPU until they think they've maximized the gains on the previous one, especially since they are getting less competition nowadays.

Why would they drop their most famous IP? Not only are they working on it, Im betting they are very far along in game development and that they have learned from their mistake with HL2, what with the hype that was just over the top, the stolen build, bla bla bla. They are keeping a tight lid on it.

Im not saying that any of this ARG shit has anything to do with HL3 at all, but to think that Valve isnt working on a sequel to Half Life 2 is just about as retarded as thinking that iD wont do another Doom, or that Apple isnt working on an iPhone5...

Krovven wrote on Dec 13, 2011, 02:19:All of which is entirely irrelevant to whether HL3 is being worked on and if they are actually actually ramping up marketing for a HL3 announcement. Too bad you skipped over the point of everything I said earlier.

My personal belief is that they aren't. I've gone over why I believe this many times.

I'll admit that they haven't definitively confirmed one way or the other.

People who think that valve IS working on it are operating on personal belief too.

Until valve announces one way or the other, all we have to go on is what they've said and what we guess or reason out.

Gabe Newell told Develop that the episodic development philosophy has been replaced wholesale by the ‘games as a service’ model.

And that they are "building games under a single philosophy"[emphasis added]

What they say though is that within that one philosophy, they vary the frequency of the updates which is why they have fast TF2 updates and not so fast updates on other products.

They also claim that L4D is close to TF2 in support which is far from the truth (even if he meant L4D series and really meant L4D2 its not close).

All of which is entirely irrelevant to whether HL3 is being worked on and if they are actually actually ramping up marketing for a HL3 announcement. Too bad you skipped over the point of everything I said earlier.

As for the no management direction thing I can see where they're going. Gaming has lost much of its charm as it went mainstream- pretty much everything we play now was mapped out by small dev teams in the 90's. Genuinely new ideas are pretty few and far between and revolutionary titles are non-existent.

Krovven wrote on Dec 13, 2011, 01:22:They still have base games, TF2, DOTA, etc. They have been saying "games as a service" for years and practicing it since Half-Life 2 with all of their titles. They have done different things and havent stuck to one method across the board for development, which they also touched on in the article, so way to cherry-pick and quote out of context.

Actually what they said was:

Gabe Newell told Develop that the episodic development philosophy has been replaced wholesale by the ‘games as a service’ model.

And that they are "building games under a single philosophy"[emphasis added]

What they say though is that within that one philosophy, they vary the frequency of the updates which is why they have fast TF2 updates and not so fast updates on other products.

They also claim that L4D is close to TF2 in support which is far from the truth (even if he meant L4D series and really meant L4D2 its not close).

Dev wrote on Dec 13, 2011, 01:07:Yes but did you read it? It said they are going SHORTER than episodic, and want to do games as a service, with continual updates such as TF2 (which is now F2P).

They still have base games, TF2, DOTA, etc. They have been saying "games as a service" for years and practicing it since Half-Life 2 with all of their titles. They have done different things and havent stuck to one method across the board for development, which they also touched on in the article, so way to cherry-pick and quote out of context. Still has absolutely nothing to do with whether HL3 announcement is coming or not.

Dev I'll play coop or whatever with you anytime, but the crap you've been spewing about Valve since they announced L4D2 is very tiresome and mostly wrong. You've actually made it so I don't read your posts about anything related to Valve or Steam anymore, and I know others have said the same thing here. You feel burned by L4D not getting the support TF2 has. You've become obsessive and irrational. Get over it, move on and grow up.

You are so blinded by it you completely fail to see the obvious and try and argue the "conspiracy" angle. Not interested.

Krovven wrote on Dec 12, 2011, 22:57:As for "Episode 3", Gabe said a long time ago that Episodic content didn't work out as they had hoped. I could have posted this a few days ago, but it was more fun watching people talk out their ass and acting like they know things.

Yes but did you read it? It said they are going SHORTER than episodic, and want to do games as a service, with continual updates such as TF2 (which is now F2P).

That's stuff distilled from a series interviews with a dozen or so valve employees, I believe I've quoted a bunch of it in a few recent threads, and threads months before that.

Such as:

Since the five-year Half-Life 2 project finished in 2004, Valve has twice attempted to change the manner in which it creates games.A major factor in the need for reform was the wellbeing of Valve’s developers, Newell said.Newell revealed to Develop that, throughout the Half-Life 2 project, he became acutely aware of his responsibility to look after his team.“I’ve become obsessed with this issue now,” he said.

And to reiterate the lack of management and direction (that some people refuse to accept even though valve repeatedly says this in interviews):http://www.develop-online.net/features/1184/The-Valve-manifesto

Newell reveals that it usually takes his newest recruits around half a year to fully adapt to life without the familiar structure of a line manager.Johnson says it can be a genuinely stressful time at Valve during the first six months – to not be checked on work, to not be given any immediate direction.

[emphasis added]

Like I've said before, this and having desks on wheels, and working only on stuff that's interesting to them is GREAT for employees, and not quite so great for customers.